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This blog serves my columns as an archive, a place to add footnotes,data sources and drafts of my weekly 550 word column for the Sky Hi News.(www.skyhidailynews.com) Often these drafts are posted on my Facebook page, The Muftic Forum.. To learn more about the posting subject, click onto the links at the end of the posting.Blog will be on vacation May 28-June 25 2018, with sporadic to no postings during that time.
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Saturday, July 28, 2018

Why I am worried about American Democracy's future

Thirteen
years after World War II ended I spent my university junior year abroad in
Berlin. It was a heady time for a US political science major wondering why what
had happened. The Wall had not yet been built. I had conversations with survivors
of the Nazi regime that seized control of democratic government with populist
support and violence and now it lay in ruins. I saw first

hand
how the Soviets used propaganda and violence to consolidate control of their conquered once
democratic eastern Europe.I married a
medical student from Yugoslavia, then a communist country headed by dictator
Tito who had both popular support and who used brute force. We settled in the US,
he became a US citizen, a respected doctor in private practice, active in civic
and political affairs, and never taking for granted the freedom to pursue his
dreams. We first visited Yugoslavia and his family in 1972 when the country
began to allow refugees to visit. We
returned about every two years until mid-2015, when he passed away. I
experienced Yugoslavia in their brutal Stalinist era, fear of a late-night
knock at the door, their period of a more benign dictatorship that still forbad
dissent, and their civil war for independence. Today Croatia is democratic and
a member of the EU and NATO.

I
wish such painful histories on no one. Modern autocrats like Putin of Russia
and Erdogan of Turkey have used some of the same techniques 20th century
dictators used to turn democracies into dictatorships.Donald Trump admires them. and adopts and tolerates
some of their media and election tactics.

Fair
elections are the very foundation of American democracy. Media free both to
criticize and to validate is one key. Security of election systems is
another.An informed electorate that will
and can listen to all sides of public debate, sorts truth from fiction, and
then votes while trusting the integrity of election systems can nip wannabe
despots in the bud, allowing democracy to

survive.

Like
his “strong men” idols, Donald Trump is no fan of freedom of the press or an
advocate of elections secure from foreign manipulation. Instead he frequently denies
Russians meddled on his behalf in 2016 and favors and consults with media who
support his views. In October he threatened to yank NBC’s broadcast licenses
whose news reports also include news and data unfavorable to him. He calls
media "enemies of the people”, tags reports he dislikes as” dishonest”,” “fake
“, lies, while fact checkers work overtime exposing his playing loose with facts. Just last week he told a VFW audience, “what you are seeing and what you are reading is
not what’s happening…Just stick with us.”He continued to call contrary reports, "crap".. Claiming there are no credible facts except those presented by the Leader (Hitler called contrary press, the lying press..Lugenpresse) is a tool wannabe dictators have used to destroy freedom of the press. In fact, at campaign rallies some of Trump supporters aggressively chanted "Lugenpresse" at reporters.He banned a CNN reporter from the White House for asking
tough questions, said he was yanking security clearances of former intelligence
officials who criticized him, and initially left out of official Helsinki
transcripts Putin admitting he wanted Trump to win in 2016.

We
know from Mueller’s indictment texts, Russians in 2016 used many media platforms
to intensify racial and ideological divisions to help Trump. They hacked into
state election systems and political party sites, showing an ability to
manipulate future election outcomes.

So
why am I worried about American democracy's future?So many do not care. A July 17 Atlantic/PRRI
poll found only 22% of Republicans thought influence from foreign government in
our elections was a major problem versus 68% Democrats; 40% independents and a
subservient GOP House just voted down funding for hardening state elections
systems’ cyber security.Democracy is
fragile, and its survival depends upon the dedicated support of the governed. That support is weak and fractured.

A worrisome poll:40% of GOP members are OK with Russian meddling; 11% welcome it. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/republicans-want-russia-influence-us-elections-202847050.htmlFreedom of the press, concern about the rule of law, abiding by the Constitution, do not even turn up as a blip on polls of top voters' issues: .https://www.vox.com/.../2018-midterm-polls-policy...

About Me

Felicia Muftic is a political columnist with the Sky Hi Daily News, Grand County, Colorado. She writes on current events from a pragmatic, fact based, reasoned perspective.
Felicia has nearly 50 years of involvement in politics, finance,and consumer affairs as either a fly on the wall in international, national, state and local levels or a participant.
Parallel to all of this is intense involvement for over 50 years in the the political process, serving in both cabinet and staff in the administration of Mayor Federico Pena . Partially educated in Europe and married to physician-refugee from the Balkans, her interests are not confined to US domestic problems, but she also has a world view and experiences which are often reflected in her columns.
Felicia Muftic es un columnista político del diario Sky News Hola, Grand County, Colorado. Felicia tiene casi 50 años de participación en la política, las finanzas y de asuntos del consumidor, ya sea como una mosca en la pared en la internacional, nacional, estatal y local o de un participante. Para más información, visite www.mufticforum.com